Campo – ~Lake Morena.

Mile 0 – 22.

Day 1.

It’s official! As of this morning, I am thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Today was the first day of my 2650-mile journey which will take me from the Mexican border to the Canadian border on foot! I am positively giddy and have been grinning like a fool all day.

My day started when I awoke at CLEEF campground near the Southern terminus of the PCT. I camped out with about 20 other aspiring thru-hikers who also have permits to begin their journey North today.

It rained overnight, so after packing up my wet tarp, I headed over to the campground kitchen area. The camp hosts were cooking mixed berry pancakes for all of us hikers to eat before we set out on our hike. I really enjoyed breakfast and my stay at CLEEF. It was the perfect way to spend the night before starting my thru-hike.

After my yummy breakfast, I walked a short distance to the Southern Terminus. On the Pacific Crest Trail, the Southern Terminus, or endpoint, is marked by a simple pillared monument directly next to the Mexican border wall. It was surreal being there finally after months of planning.

Many thru-hikers gathered around the terminus and all took turns taking photos with the monument. After everyone got a dozen or so photos with a variety of poses, there was nothing left to do but start hiking north!

I spent the morning getting to know the PCT. I can already tell it’s different in many ways from what I had pictured. First off – it is green! And overgrown with shrubs and wildflowers. In fact, some of the shrubs were so tall that they towered above the trail, forming a sort of green… tunnel. A few miles into the PCT, I found myself wondering if I’d somehow made a wrong turn and wound up on my beloved Appalachian Trail! (For anyone not familiar with the AT, it’s sometimes called the “green tunnel” because of its dense plant life).

Jokes aside, the camp hosts last night said that it rained a lot in the area over the past few weeks, which transformed the usually brown landscape and prompted the desert plants to bloom. Though I usually don’t love camping in the rain, I can’t complain if it means I get to look at a rainbow of desert wildflowers all day long.

Another surprise to me was the terrain. The climbs and descents today were so gentle and gradual that I barely thought about them. The PCT is often described as being less “steep” than the Appalachian Trail – but I didn’t fully believe it until I saw it. Though the Pacific Crest Trail is longer than the Appalachian Trail (AT), it has a good bit less elevation gain and loss per mile on average.

A third way the PCT surprised me today was what a social experience it has already been! I’d heard the PCT is relatively less crowded than the AT, so I’d mentally prepared for some loneliness. But today that certainly was no issue, with 20 or so hikers all starting around the same time. It seems the PCT in 2025 is as populated as the AT back in 2014.

I hiked and took breaks with many other thru-hikers throughout the morning, and then hiked alone for a bit in the afternoon. By late afternoon, I reached Lake Morena.

Lake Morena is a recreational area with a campground and restaurant, and (most importantly) the first potential resupply spot for hikers. I decided to just keep walking since I did not feel the need for a shower or restaurant meal quite yet. I wouldn’t want to spoil myself with all the luxuries on day one!

Instead, I walked a couple more miles past Lake Morena and set up camp by some pretty rock outcroppings. I had NOT expected to walk 22 miles on my first day, but the excitement combined with the relatively easy terrain and cool weather made it difficult to not walk a bit further than intended.

All in all, it was a fantastic first day on the Pacific Crest Trail. As I write this, cozy under my tarp and wrapped in my quilt, I can barely wait to wake up tomorrow morning and see what new adventures day two brings!